Religious commitment in medical practice: a preface to the series.

The art of healing knows no distinction between religion and medicine. They are warp and woof of the same fabric, each supporting the other. The ancients viewed the weave as a whole; we stain for medicine, and, under high magnification, see little of its interlacing pattern with religion. Today we talk about religion and medicine. This word and has been the key term in a mushrooming field of articles, books, and lectures calling attention to our neglect of religion in the practice of medicine. Yet most often this word has suggested a solution to a problem, not an organic relationship. The image suggested is that of a religious overlay, a patch laid upon the rent fabric of medicine;2 "the more the religion, the better the medicine" is the message conveyed. But the image is misleading in two respects. The fabric rent is not simply the fabric of medicine, but the closely woven threads of religion and medicine forming a textured whole. The appeal is also misleading. Medicine needs religion not to make it work better, but because they belong together. The proper image is the rough fabric of closely interlaced flaxen or collagen fibers whose strength derives from its structure as much as from the tensile properties of its separate threads. So there is both a blessing and a curse to the new interest in religion and medicine. A "return to religion" is said to be the solution to all of life's problems, from the broken home to international affairs. While the form and manner of such presentation may be grotesque, behind it lies the specter of religion, intruding in a haunting way upon our ordered thought to demand that it somehow be "seen with" or "included in" even the most complex areas of medical practice. Perhaps the and is a sign of our times, reminding us of both the relationship and the split, and in a disturbingly dialectical way, calling for more radical perspectives. The series "Religious Commitment in Medical Practice" takes root in one of these perspectives. For years, as Chaplain to the School of Medicine at Yale, I have successfully resisted programming a "religion and medicine" series, mainly to avoid the layering implication. We already pile too much on the basics of medical education, and I was not eager to jeopardize the students, the educational process, or religion by adding to the stack. But this year some persuasive students got to me! They volunteered to help plan and run the series.3 More importantly, the students gave